


Companion

by GemNika



Series: 30 Drabbles [13]
Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Eventual Romance, F/M, Immortality, Past Character Death, Past Lives, Post-Canon, Self-Discovery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-27
Updated: 2018-10-27
Packaged: 2019-08-08 11:51:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16428857
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GemNika/pseuds/GemNika
Summary: Acnologia's spent his long life remembering the world he'd tried to destroy. When he meets her in an airport, he can't help but be intrigued by the similarities from a time long-forgotten by everyone but himself. Who is she, and why does he feel this strong connection to his past?





	Companion

 

Acnologia hated flying. Well, to be more accurate, he hated flying in airplanes. It had been centuries since the age of true magic had passed. In that time, humans had advanced technologically by leaps and bounds. The final war with Zeref had left the entire continent that had once been Fiore in quite the state. Everything had been turned upside down with Irene's ridiculous spell.

Natsu and the other Dragon Slayers had fought so hard to defeat Acnologia that day. He remembered the burn of Igneel's son's flames; occasionally, he could still feel the phantom heat on his left side. But while they'd thought he'd been defeated, Acnologia had had one final trick up his sleeve: a spell that had long been forgotten. The dragon he'd inherited his magic from had taught it to him, and with the other dragons having been felled by his own hands, no other Slayers had learned it after him.

No, that wasn't right. One other had riddled out how to use the spell, but she'd made it her own and branded it one of the three great spells of Fairy Tail.

What that little blonde wretch of a girl, Mavis, called  _Fairy Sphere_ , Acnologia knew of by its original name, it's true name.  _Cylch y Ddraig_ , the Ring of the Dragon. A spell powerful enough, when used properly, to suspend the caster in stasis in an alternate dimension for an innumerable amount of time. He'd spent the better part of three hundred years in his own  _cylch_  after the battle with the Dragon Slayers. When he'd emerged, everything had changed. The world had moved on without him.

Magical guilds had already started to drift into the realm of fantastical stories. Humans had moved on, and Acnologia… Well, he spent years trying to assimilate just what he'd missed out on. He was still reclusive, but with all the Dragon Slayers having finally died out - there were still traces of their bloodlines here and there, but those were so diluted, it didn't even matter anymore - he was at a bit of a loss on just what to do with himself.

" _First call for priority seating on Flight 8327 to Seattle."_

With a heavy sigh, he stood from the plush seat he'd taken residence in three hours earlier while waiting for his connecting flight. Acnologia folded his black topcoat over his arm - he was more than happy to have found a blacksmith when he'd emerged from his slumber who could make him a prosthetic arm for his human form, and that they always had apprentices who could create him new ones as he needed them over the years - and gathered his laptop bag and the cup of coffee he'd been sipping at.

Who would have thought that the great Chaos Dragon of the Apocalypse would be where he was right then? He had the ability to change into a dragon, yet he chose to walk through the crowded airport and board a ridiculous metal monstrosity packed with too many people. He'd once bathed in the blood of his enemies, had thrilled at the thought of decimating countrysides. Now, in this day and age, he was an antiques collector.

He was stuck in the past that no human truly believed in. His own presence in the history books was nonexistent. No, instead, he and the others of his time had been relegated to fairy tales (the irony of it was not lost on him in the slightest). His own story was nothing more than a myth to scare children, even though his name was never mentioned in it.

Acnologia took one final sip of his coffee and tossed it in a trash bin while walking toward his flight. He walked past crying and screaming infants, arguing couples, clearly jetlagged businessmen, and with each step he was made more and more aware of the reason he kept to himself in this day and age. He missed the days when things were quieter, when nature reigned supreme and humans lived in small villages.

The scent of a dog caught his attention while rounding a corner, and his keen emerald gaze honed in on it in an instant. If his nose hadn't told him that it was a dog, he would have questioned just how security had allowed such a monstrous creature past their checkpoints.

A blonde woman stood next to the silver-furred beast at the head of the line for his flight. Oh no. Not  _his_ flight. Just what she was thinking, trying to bring it into the passenger area, he couldn't be sure. There were designated places in the cargo hold for animals, regardless of how large a crate it would have needed to be held in. Acnologia's steps never faltered as he came closer, but he sharpened his ears to her conversation alone. This, he had to hear.

"Ma'am, you can't bring a pet into the passenger area," said the woman who was supposed to check everyone's tickets.

"You don't understand," the blonde woman said as her hand tightened on the leash holding the dog at her side. It sat patiently beside her with its head easily reaching up to her chest, then slowly leaned against her. "He's not just a pet. This is an Emotional Support Animal."

"Do you have the proper documentation?"

She nodded and pulled several papers from the inner pocket of her beige peacoat as Acnologia came to stand behind her. The flight attendant checked over the papers, looking from them to the woman, then to the dog. The blonde woman retrieved a pair of tickets from her coat and handed them over as well. "I paid for two seats," she said. "I know some airlines say the animal has to sit on the owner's lap or on the floor, but he's too big for me to hold in my lap for a five hour flight."

"How much does he weigh?"

"Two hundred fifty pounds."

Acnologia really didn't doubt that the animal weighed that much. It didn't appear to be overweight though, just bulky and broadly built.

"Ma'am, I'll need to check with my supervisor."

"You're kidding me, right?" the blonde woman groaned.

"No, ma'am, I'm sorry. Could you please step off to the side here?" she asked, motioning away from the line. "I'll call up the supervisor in just a moment."

"So you're telling me that I have to wait here until you've handled everyone else, because you're too incompetent to see that this is a necessary accommodation for me to fly?"

"Please just wait here, ma'am." The woman put on a bright smile while looking at Acnologia. "How can I help you, sir?"

The blonde didn't leave the place she'd been standing, and he made no move to try and get her out of the way. "I believe you still have something to do," he said to the flight attendant. He fought back a grimace at the sudden flush on her cheeks and how she blinked rapidly just from the sound of his voice. He hated it when women reacted that way.

"Thank you," the blonde woman said over her shoulder. He saw the moment her shoulders squared, when her back straightened just a little to give her a more dominating presence. It was greatly diminished by the large dog sitting beside her, however. It wouldn't surprise him if she was able to ride the beast like a horse.

"Now listen here," she paused to read the attendant's name tag, "Judy. I've read through the airline's guidelines on what does and doesn't constitute an Emotional Support Animal, and what documentation I needed to provide you for my dog here to be able to fly with me in the cabin. In case you're not aware, I've given you a copy of my doctor's orders, as well all of Acnologia's updated shots."

Any amusement the famed Dragon Slayer may have been experiencing over this situation was doused in an instant when he heard the dog's name. Unless he'd misheard her, which he doubted, this woman had named her dog after him. Without even knowing just who he was, or what he was.

He hated the universe, sometimes.

"It's not required for him to wear a specially designed vest, but I have one in my carry-on if you feel like it's absolutely necessary," she continued. "So, how about you stop wasting my time and everyone else who's waiting to get back home sometime before the new year, and just let me and Acnologia on the plane already?"

"Ma'am, I'm going to have to ask you to calm down," the attendant said carefully.

"Oh, trust me," she said, her voice low and only slightly agitated, "This is me being calm. I'm much louder when I'm actually angry."

"If you could just wait to the side, my supervisor should be-"

"Considering you've yet to call this supervisor," Acnologia butted in, "I doubt they're on their way."

"Just let her on the plane already!" a young blue-haired man in his twenties groaned from somewhere behind Acnologia. "So what if she wants to bring the damn dog on?"

"Well, I'm allergic to dogs," muttered a prim-looking woman with wide sunglasses and a devilish, pointed chin.

"Well no one fucking asked you, Brenda!" the blonde woman in front of him turned and shouted. "I need him with me!"

"My name is Susan…"

Acnologia could only assume this was just the beginning of this woman becoming hysterical. And really, this wasn't what he wanted to be doing right then. What he wanted was to be back home, sitting in front of his fireplace with an old book. He wanted to be comfortable and able to relive the better times in his life - the days of death and destruction that he was honestly too tired to go out and partake in any longer.

"Ma'am, if you can't relax, I'll have security remove you and your dog from-"

"I can't fly without him," she said, turning back to the attendant. "I just can't, okay? I paid good money for these seats, because I knew it would be an issue to fly coach with him. Just… please…"

Acnologia's lip nearly curled in disgust when he smelled the acrid scent of salt welling in the air just in front of him. She was on the verge of tears. Just wonderful. But it wasn't his job to come to the rescue for anyone. He'd never been the sort of person who worried about others. He was no chivalrous knight, especially not now, in a time when even those were long dead.

Oh, how he missed the Rune Knights on occasions like these. They were rather fun to eat.

"Please," she said again, and he could hear her muscles tightening in a steady rhythm on the dog's leash. The dog leaned more heavily against her, nearly toppling her right then. "He's not a bad dog. He's an English Mastiff, for stars' sakes!"

 _Stars' sakes_ … that was a phrase he hadn't heard for centuries. But if nothing else had held his attention on this woman, that most certainly did.

"Just let us on, okay?"

"Fuckin' shit, man… The hell is takin' so long up there?" came the gruff voice that called to a distant memory of Acnologia's. He was tempted to turn and find out who the voice belonged to, but he ignored it.

Instead, he chose to close his eyes and count to thirty. Then forty. Anything to keep himself from simply letting out one well-aimed roar to decimate every human who was in the process of ruining his mood. Luckily for him, he supposed, the phone in his breast pocket started ringing. That gave him a wonderful distraction. Maybe he was a little too eager though while answering it with nothing more than a grunt.

" _Mister Draconis,"_  came the voice of his most recent personal assistant, Nadine.  _"You asked me to inform you when I was able to get a contact number for the item you want to purchase."_

"Which one?" he asked.

" _The Heartfilia manuscripts, sir."_

Ah, the collection of novels - both published and unpublished - by Fairy Tail's very own Celestial mage. The only books that detailed just what life was like back when he was in his prime. The only ones that had his name in any sort of historical context.

He hadn't been able to read them back then, being stuck in his  _cylch_ , but it was the only way for him to find out just what was believed about the war that ended Zeref. He was rather curious to see how his image had fared in that woman's literary clutches.

"I understand. Send it to me, and I'll contact them myself."

" _Sir, are you sure? I can-"_

"Nadine, don't make me repeat myself," he growled, which oddly drew the dog-Acnologia's attention to him. "I trust no one in dealing with these items, especially not you and your insipid prattling."

" _O-Of course, sir… My apologies."_  He waited while she gathered papers on the other end of the line, then memorized the phone number and name she gave him.  _"Was there anything else-"_

"No, that's all. My flight should be landing in Seattle at ten tonight, so make sure a car is there and waiting for me." He hung up the phone without waiting for a response, then returned his attention to the flustered flight attendant who had let the blonde woman and her dog finally board the plane.

"You have my apologies for the delay," she said with a sad attempt at an enigmatic smile.

"You should apologize to that woman," he muttered while holding out his boarding pass. "Wasting her time and everyone else's because you're too lazy to read." She sputtered and handed his pass back to him, and Acnologia breezed past her into the long tube leading to the plane.

All he could hope was that the flight would be quick. Well, it would have been quicker if he'd flown himself, but it really wasn't safe for him to turn into a dragon in the modern age. The last thing he needed was for the military to start chasing him. That just sounded tedious.

* * *

Lucy let out a slow, steadying breath while leading Acnologia down the aisle to their seats. "That's a good boy," she whispered. They both knew it was more for her own comfort than for the dog, but that wasn't the point. She was just glad that she'd thought to pack some puppy pads to lay down in the handicap stall of the airport bathroom, so Acnologia could relieve himself before the flight. Granted, picking up the steaming pile of his shit and dumping it in the toilet hadn't been pleasant, but it was a necessary evil.

They finally reached their seats, and she motioned for him to sit on the floor while she reached into her carry-on for his blanket. He wasn't really one for shedding, but he did drool - her precious little (big) Mastiff, that he was - and she was courteous enough to think about trying to keep that from getting on the first class seats. Once the oversized pink fleece blanket was properly draped over his seat and hers, she patted the cushion and smiled as he slowly crawled up into it. And as soon as he was settled, she went about getting herself situated with her carry-on stowed in its proper compartment beneath the seats.

All she could hope was that the person who would be sitting across the aisle from her and Acnologia had no issues with dogs. She needed to sit by the aisle, and she knew that Acnologia preferred looking out the window while flying if he happened to stay awake through the flight. He wouldn't be an overbearing nuisance to whoever was sitting in the same row as them, at the other window seat.

By the time she sat down and started getting herself comfortable, someone had come to the seat across from her. She glanced over to see a tall, well-built man in a dark grey business suit setting a laptop bag under his seat. His long bluish-silver hair was pulled up into a high, thick ponytail that reached down to his hips, but she found the bright blue tattoos across his cheeks and one of his hands - the only skin of his that was visible - to be alluring. Breathtaking.

She couldn't stop staring at them, though. Even when he sat down and pulled out his cell phone to start typing out what she figured was a very important email before their flight took off. Even Acnologia seemed to be intrigued by him. She could only assume that was the case when the dog's giant head leaned over her shoulder and pressed against her cheek. The silver-haired man must have realized she was staring though, because he set his phone back in his pocket and slowly - oh so slowly - turned to look at her and Acnologia.

Lucy had never seen such vibrant green eyes in her entire life. Just the sight of them pulled her into his mysterious web. She could practically feel vast evergreen fields stretching out for miles and miles beyond her, just from his gaze alone. She hadn't a clue why she caught the faint scent of a forest and crisp morning air on her next inhale. Unless he had some seriously subtle cologne that she'd only just picked up on.

"Can I help you?" he drawled. She recognized that voice. He was the one who had been standing behind her in the ticket line.

Lucy's lips parted in surprise, but she did her level best to compose herself enough to speak. "I-I um… Thank you."

He blinked slowly, and she could feel her cheeks flaring out of sheer embarrassment. "For?"

"For not being a total jerk out there," she laughed. Mostly at herself. She knew it was silly to need something like an animal just to be able to fly, but she couldn't help it. "I'm surprised you didn't make more of a fuss over how long that took."

"It's of no consequence," he said. His voice rumbled with every syllable, and the sound travelled right down to her very soul. She couldn't be sure why he seemed familiar to her though. Surely Lucy would have remembered meeting someone like him.

"You don't mind that he's flying with me, do you?" she asked, wincing. "I know some people get pretty upset over it. But Acno's a good dog."

"If it is necessary for you to be properly accommodated on this flight, then I see no issue with it." Good lord, the way he talked was so… old school. He didn't really look old enough to have a stick up his ass about language, but there was something about it that made it seem almost natural for him to speak that way.

"Yeah," she chuckled, bringing a hand up to pat the side of Acno's head. He draped a large paw over her leg. "Well, if I wasn't so terrified of flying, he wouldn't be here."

"Ah," the silver-haired man nodded. "Anxiety?"

"Really really bad," she said. "My parents were killed in a plane crash years ago."

"I see."

"I barely made it out alive," she finished, giving his suddenly wide-eyed expression a lopsided grin. "Private plane. I still don't know how I made it at all, but I survived it with just a few bruises." And a large scar running down the length of her back, but she really didn't talk about that. "Well, and a broken leg. If it wasn't for Acnologia here, the rescue team wouldn't have found me at all. He was a stray though, and I ended up adopting him." She smiled as Acno's head pressed against her cheek harder than before. "My guardian angel."

"Then anxiety while flying would seem logical," the man replied.

"Just airplanes though," she said as other passengers began filling the cabin. "I'm fine on rollercoasters and stuff. I even tried parasailing this past summer, and I had no problem with it."

"Helicopters?" he asked with a smirk.

"Fine in those," she laughed. "But I hate how loud they are, so I steer clear of them."

Acno whined in her ear and she turned to look at him with her brows pinched. The moment she saw his bright blue eyes looking back at her, Lucy found herself laughing. "I haven't forgotten about you, Acno," she giggled. "Here, scoot back and we'll move the armrest. You can lay down and snuggle with me."

The silver-haired man watched as she and the dog got themselves situated, and after a few moments, she turned her attention back to him.

"I forgot to introduce myself," she laughed. "My name is Lucy."

He stared down at her outstretched hand for only a moment before placing his in her grasp for a firm handshake. "Acnologia."

Her honey eyes widened and she looked from him down to the dog, and back. "You mean, you have the same name… as my dog?"

"Apparently, I do," he said, his lips lifting in a self-assured smirk. "However, I believe I may have had the name first."

"What are the odds?" she laughed, and he watched as she rubbed the top of her dog's head affectionately. "No one I've ever met has even heard that name before."

"Well, it is rather old," he said.

"My mom used to tell me this really great bedtime story about someone named Acnologia," she said with a soft, reminiscent smile. "When I woke up in the hospital and I remembered seeing him, I don't know what it was, but I just felt like he was an Acnologia. Even though the guy in the story was a villain."

"And why would your dog be deserving of my fine name?" he asked. She could see the humor swimming in his eyes though. Even though he wasn't fully smiling, she saw that he did find the turn to their conversation rather funny.

"The Acnologia in that story was strong," she said. "I don't know, though. It was just something about my boy here. I looked at him and thought, 'This is what Acnologia would look like if he was a dog.' It probably just sounds silly."

"Well, as someone with the same name, I can tell you it most definitely does sound silly," Acnologia said. He paused and watched as her cheeks flushed a brighter pink than before. "However, I think this dog in particular is a fair representation of my name in canine form."

The fact that she could hear her dog snoring already only had Lucy laughing. Oddly enough, when Acnologia joined in on her laughter, her chest swelled with some foreign warmth at the rich, deep sound of his voice.

* * *

She was silent for the entirety of the flight. As soon as the plane started moving, Lucy had gone a deathly shade of white. The whole time it taxied down the runway, she'd white-knuckled her armrest and restlessly run her free hand over Acno's fur.

Acnologia was surprised by the way the dog acted though. Lucy's mounting tension was palpable, and yet the dog simply allowed her to do as she pleased. She pet him a little too rough on occasion, but he didn't react in the slightest. Acno's head lifted from her lap every once in a while and he buried his nose under her chin. She didn't even seem to notice as the dog crawled on top of her just a little more - or maybe she didn't care all that much, considering the circumstances - when the plane took off.

Acnologia had watched her carefully pace her breathing. She took deep breaths in through her nose and out through her mouth with her eyes closed until they were high in the sky and the seatbelt lights had been turned off. Lucy didn't remove her seatbelt. For five whole hours, she didn't leave her seat for anything.

When the flight attendants brought the in-flight refreshments, Lucy turned everything down except for a small cup of water for herself and a bag of pretzels that she shared with her dog. Acnologia was tempted to ask her why she wasn't eating, but by the look on her face just from trying to eat three measly pretzels, he could only assume she'd felt queasy. The dog seemed to understand though, and helped her finish the bland snack with no issues whatsoever.

By the time they landed in Seattle, night had fallen, and Acnologia was sure the woman beside him was going to burst with all the tension she'd been holding onto. Several times during the flight, he'd noticed her burying her face in Acno's scruff with her arms wrapped around his thick neck. She was one unruly hiccup away from a full-blown panic attack the whole time they'd been in the air. That, in turn, had somehow made  _him_  more tense.

Once the wheels touched down, he relaxed just as she did. She looked at him only once before getting off the plane, giving him a tremulous smile that nearly knocked Acnologia off his feet.

It wasn't until she smiled at him like that, just before walking away with her dog, that he really saw who she was. Maybe the years were finally starting to get to him, but he saw it only then. She had the same wide, expressive eyes, the same full face. That signature golden hair that he was sure was soft as gossamer. But the smile was identical, down to the barely there dimples in her cheeks, to all the women in her family. He'd been well-acquainted with only one generation of her family with Anna, and he'd nearly succeeded in killing another generation twice.

What was the name of that Fairy Tail girl he'd tried to kill before? Why did he want to say that he'd met that Celestial maiden's reincarnation? He wasn't above believing in things like that. He was sure that only a few decades earlier, he'd met with Natsu's reincarnation in Belgium. Acnologia had taken great pleasure in murdering the man with bright pink hair and a fiery disposition who had tried to mug him. Even if it wasn't Natsu Dragneel's reincarnation, Acnologia liked to believe it was, just so he could have some closure.

But this woman, she could really be a descendant of the Heartfilia line. She looked the part, at the very least. He finally found the will to collect his own belongings, but by the time Acnologia was off the plane, she was nowhere to be seen. Even down in the baggage claim area, he couldn't find her. There were too many sounds and scents around for him to pick her out from the crowd.

It was probably just as well, though. The last thing he needed was a painful reminder like her of the past he was desperately trying to collect in his library at home… while simultaneously trying to forget all about the world that had left him behind.

Nothing good would come of it.

With another heavy sigh, he waited for his baggage to arrive, watching bags of all shapes and sizes - and even a duct-taped trash bag and a guitar case move along the conveyor. Two large black suitcases came down the conveyor belt side by side, and he found himself frowning at them. One was his, that much he was sure of, but he only had the one bag. That had to mean someone else also had an identical suitcase to him that also had a first class priority tag on it.

With a put-upon roll of his eyes, he maneuvered through the crowd and pulled one of the black cases from the conveyor belt. Once he had it set on the ground and had checked the name tag, he wanted to bash his skull into the nearest metal pole.

A quick tap on his shoulder had Acnologia turning around in an instant, only to find a very familiar head of blonde hair and those bright honey eyes grinning up at him.

"Acnologia Draconis, I presume?" she asked, holding onto the handle of a black suitcase identical to the one he'd taken.

"The one and only," he said. And then he read the name tag again. "Lucy Heartfilia?"

"That would be me," she laughed.

She really was a Heartfilia. The contact information he'd been given by Nadine was all for naught, because the woman who had what he so desperately wished to collect was standing right in front of him, holding a leash for her massive silver English Mastiff in one hand, and the handle for his luggage in the other.

"I hope you won't find me presumptuous," he said carefully as they exchanged luggage, "But would you and my legacy here like to have a late dinner with me?"

She was obviously surprised by the invitation, and he could see her wariness creeping up and covering her like a thick cloak. Acno stepped between the two of them on instinct alone, based only on her reaction to Acnologia's question.

"Well, um…"

He couldn't help but smirk then. She was a smart woman to turn down an invitation to dinner from a man she hardly knew, but he refused to let this chance slip by him. Instead, Acnologia reached into a pocket in his coat and withdrew his business card case. He plucked one from inside and handed it to her. "Acnologia Draconis," he said as she cautiously took it from him. "I'm an antique collector. My assistant called me earlier with your contact information."

"You… want to buy my antiques?" Lucy asked with a raised brow.

"The manuscripts written by your ancestor," he said.

"Lucy Heartfilia," she said slowly. "Why are you so interested in her fairy tales?"

"They're much more than fairy tales, I assure you," he chuckled. What was meant to be a simple joke that only he knew the true meaning of, seemed to spark some sudden interest in her.

"They're not for sale," she said.

"Excuse me?"

"I said they're not for sale," she said again. "My great-great-great something or other grandmother cared about her work, and it's been passed down in our family for years. I'm not going to just sell it to someone I hardly know all so it can be added to a collection of dusty tomes."

"That's not-"

"No," she said. "I won't sell them to you. Not unless you can prove to me that you're deserving of them."

"And… how would I go about doing that?"

"Have you ever read any of her work?"

"No, but I've been wanting to for a very long time."

"Do you know any of her stories?"

He wanted so badly to tell this woman that he'd  _lived_ some of those stories, but that would make him sound like a lunatic. The last thing Acnologia needed was for her to think he was completely insane. He'd gotten his sanity back when he'd emerged from his  _cylch_ , after all. "Yes," he said. "I think I may."

Lucy looked smug then while crossing her arms over her chest and cocking a hip out to one side. His eyes followed her hands though, and he found himself drawn into the dark mark on the back of her right hand. He didn't think as he reached forward and pulled her hand closer, not even when she squeaked and tried to keep the appendage away from him.

"What is this?" he asked slowly, staring down at the dark red mark on her flesh.

"A birthmark," she said with a scowl. She tried to pull her hand away again, but he held fast. "It's just a weird port wine stain…"

A soft, reminiscent smile tugged at his lips while his thumb brushed over the birdlike mark. While Acnologia may have tried to murder all the mages in Fairy Tail, his true goal had only been the Dragon Slayers. Now that he'd been living among humans for so long, now that magic was all but nonexistent aside from his own, he always found it a bit nostalgic when he encountered something from his past.

The last thing he'd expected to find in this young woman was such a deep connection to his old life though. He definitely hadn't been prepared to see a Fairy Tail guild mark on her hand. If memory served correctly, the Celestial maiden had a bright pink guild mark in this exact same spot.

"You've been marked by the fairies," he said softly. She went deathly still and he looked into her eyes again. "Your ancestor had a mark on her hand, just like this one. The mark of the Fairy Tail guild."

"How would you know something like that?" she asked with a tremble in her voice.

"I'm not an ordinary antique collector," he chuckled. "But you asked if I knew any of her stories. I believe she may have written one about a place called Tenrou Island." He heard her heart as it began pounding in her chest, pumping blood for a fight or flight. "Would you like me to tell it to you, as I heard it? The perspective was not her own, but the event is the same."

Lucy licked her dry lips and nodded, seemingly unaware of the fact that they were still standing in front of the baggage claim belt, or that other passengers from their flight were starting to get annoyed by the pair not moving now that they'd gotten their bags.

"The Fairy Tail guild had gathered at Tenrou Island to test the mettle of their mages in the year 784," he began. He'd gathered that much information after they returned from Tenrou seven years later, when he took the time to read a Sorcerer's Weekly from someone's trash to see what the most recent news was. "A dark guild, Grimoire Heart, appeared on the island and nearly killed them all, but the Fairies were victorious. I believe they'd thought all would be well after that moment, but they hadn't expected a dragon to appear. Whether your ancestor was aware of it or not, that dragon appeared for one reason only, to kill the black mage, Zeref, who had been living on the island in secrecy. The dragon felt his magic after so many years, and wished to kill him."

He could tell by the look in her eyes that she recognized at least a small part of what he was telling her. She was intrigued by it all, and that made Acnologia's other hand lift to grasp hers.

"The dragon didn't care for the lives of humans, so he paid no attention to the Fairies. They fought him, though, and Zeref disappeared while the dragon held their giant guild master, Makarov, back.

"Enraged, the dragon took to the air and resolved to slaughter the mages who had stood in his way. He prepared his roar, and the Fairies gathered in a circle, holding hands. A blinding white light engulfed the island just as his roar was unleashed, and they vanished with the casting of  _Fairy Sphere_. The world thought them to be dead, but seven years passed and the island reappeared in the year 791."

"How… how do you know that story?" she asked. She was breathless, but he couldn't blame her. Not when she spoke again. "That story was never published… It was only in her diary."

"I'm not sure you'd believe me if I told you," he said.

"I have to know," she replied, suddenly tightening her hold on his hands and not noticing that one of them was metal. "My mother told me when I was younger, that it was said Lucy never published that story because she didn't want anyone to know the truth of how she and her guild mates had survived the dragon's attack."

"And you believe your ancestor truly faced a dragon?" Acnologia's brow rose in feigned disbelief.

A rueful smile graced her plump lips at that. "Well, I've always believed in those stories," she said, albeit a little sheepishly. "My mother always said they were just really well-told stories. My grandmother thought that Lucy was insane and writing everything from an asylum. But my aunt, Anna, she said that Lucy was just a really smart writer, and that she would have published her diaries as well - that she was just using a different format for a book."

"But you didn't agree with any of them," he said slowly.

"No," she laughed. "I think she really did have magic, and that she really went on all those adventures she wrote about. God, you probably think I sound crazy."

She finally did pull her hands away from his hold then, but he allowed her the small bit of distance while he searched her eyes for something he couldn't name. Maybe he wanted the truth. The Anna he'd known had always been a horrible liar. Her heart had been too pure when they were younger, and she couldn't have told him a lie if her life depended on it. That had definitely changed as she grew though, sending those Dragon Slayer children to the future the way she had.

"I do not," he said. "In fact, I think you are the most sane person I've met in a very long time." The dog still standing mostly between them huffed out a half-bark, and he looked down into its tired blue eyes. "My offer still stands, but if you would like to take some time to consider it, I understand."

As Acnologia turned to walk away, he heard her breath hitch and she called out to him. "Wait, you never told me how you knew the story!"

He looked over his shoulder and grinned at her. "I would suggest reading her stories again," he said. "If she's a worthy author, she'll have written the truth in there."

"Which stories?!" she shouted as he walked on.

"That's up to you to figure out," he called back. He heard her groan while she grabbed her bag and started leading Acno away from the baggage area. What he wouldn't give to find out more about this Heartfilia descendant who had cropped up in his life so suddenly. It was one of the reasons he'd given her that small kernel of information. If she put the pieces together that he was, in fact, the same Acnologia that her ancestor had written about, and if she believed it to be true, then maybe there would be some intriguing conversation for him in the near future.

If she didn't truly believe, then he would probably never hear from her again. He would need to try a different tactic to attain those manuscripts. But he could be patient. If he had to simply wait another generation to try again, then so be it.

Acnologia refused to let those manuscripts go. Not when he already had so many other items - like that dreaded white-scaled scarf - from that time so long ago.

* * *

She read every story that had been written by Lucy Heartfilia, her namesake. She read through the diaries, and even the odd scraps of paper that were tucked inside old books passed down through the generations. It took Lucy two months to get through all of it, and another month after that to let herself actually believe what Acnologia Draconis had told her with his subtle hints.

It was the day that she'd stumbled on a chest in the attic full of artwork that was so lifelike it almost looked like it was a photograph, that Lucy found she couldn't deny the truth any longer. In the first picture she found, stood an exact likeness of herself in a white tube top and grey mini-skirt, with her arm around a pink-haired man's shoulders. A large building loomed behind them with the words  _Fairy Tail_ arching over the large doors. And there, on the pictured Lucy's hand was a bright pink mark. The Fairy Tail guild mark. The same one that Lucy had been born with.

She spent the entire day looking through the rest of the pictures in that chest, comparing them with Lucy Heartfilia's diary entries, and the letters to her deceased parents that had been recovered two years ago by her great aunt Ethel. For the first time in her life, Lucy was able to see the people that her ancestor had written about. She saw Natsu, the man Lucy had eventually married (only after she'd proposed to him herself because, as she'd written,  _"Natsu's just too dense to even think of marrying me unless I bring it up…"_ ) and she saw Erza and Gray and Wendy. She saw Happy and Carla and Pantherlily, the fabled Exceeds that were still popular characters in children's movies.

She saw Gajeel, Laxus, Rogue and Sting, the other Dragon Slayers that Lucy had written about. The only one not pictured was a man named Cobra, but he was a criminal that had apparently worked the rest of his life to atone for the sins he'd committed while in a dark guild; Lucy was happy to know that he'd found love with a woman from Fairy Tail named Kinana, and that they had three children together.

The most interesting, and possibly terrifying, picture was the one of a black dragon flying through the sky, roaring out a large ball of white and blue light. Just from looking at it, she knew this was the Apocalypse Dragon she'd read about. The one named Acnologia who had slaughtered all the dragons centuries before these diaries had been written. But there was a detail that Lucy Heartfilia hadn't written about in any of her diaries, and not in the books she'd published.

She'd mentioned that in the final war against Zeref, Acnologia had taken on a human form again. But she'd never once mentioned the bright blue markings on this dragon. She'd written that it was obvious the man that Natsu and the other Dragon Slayers killed was Acnologia, by his markings alone.

But they were blue. Just like the tattoos she'd seen on Acnologia Draconis' hand and face.

When Lucy thought about it, she didn't remember if he had two hands though. From what she'd read, the Apocalypse Dragon had lost one of his arms while fighting Igneel during the war with the demon guild, Tartaros. If this was the same man, shouldn't his arm have still been missing?

She sat back on her heels, holding the picture of Acnologia in her hands, and looked off to the side to her great oaf of a dog who was sleeping nearby.

She wasn't entirely sure what had made her do it. Maybe it was that she wanted answers. She'd always believed in the stories that Lucy Heartfilia had written. It was the romantic in her that felt there was more truth to them than anyone else let on. She reached into her pocket and withdrew her phone and the business card she'd been given three months prior in the middle of the airport.

What if he really was this famed dragon killer? He didn't seem so evil when she'd sat beside him on the plane. That didn't stop her from dialing his number and putting the phone to her ear while she gazed at the picture once again. The dragon as it had been painted was beautiful. Deadly, but beautiful.

What Lucy wouldn't give to be able to see it in real life…

" _Acnologia, speaking."_

"'His scales were black'," she quoted from memory of Lucy Heartfilia's diary. "'So black that I was sure the stars themselves would disappear if they came close enough to him. When we learned more about him from Zirconis' spirit beneath the castle in Crocus, I knew that we were lucky to have survived the attack of the Black Dragon on Tenrou Island. He was a murderer, a monster who sacrificed his humanity to spill the blood of the ones who had given him power.'"

" _So you read them."_

"I did."

" _And what is it that you believe?"_

She bit her lips and canted her head to one side to hold her phone against her shoulder. Her fingers feathered over the image of the black dragon on the page. "I still believe she's telling the truth," Lucy said. "And you're him… Aren't you…"

" _Who am I?"_ he asked.

She knew that there was an answer he must be searching for. He must have wanted confirmation that she knew just who he was. That he was really the dragon her ancestor had written about, the one who had nearly killed her and all of her guildmates centuries before. There was one name that Lucy Heartfilia had written about only one time in her diary, one name that Zirconis had mentioned. It was the name of a festival, a bloody massacre that Acnologia himself had wrought. A title that he'd claimed with the blood on his hands and claws.

With a shuddering inhale, her eyes closed and she whispered into the phone, "You're the Dragon King."

* * *

It wasn't until Acnologia was sitting in her home library, poring over the scrolls and books that she'd pulled out for him, that Lucy realized she should have been a little more wary of him. He'd accepted her invitation to come see the manuscripts as soon as she'd asked. She didn't know if he had any other pressing matters to attend to that day - she wasn't really sure what he did with his time, to be honest - but clearly this was much more important to him.

He'd been surprised by her address, and he'd told her as much once he'd arrived and stepped out of his sleek silver sports car. It was the last part of the Heartfilia Konzern still standing, the main mansion that Layla Heartfilia had raised her daughter in in the late 700s. Everything else was surrounded by woods those days though. Lucy rather preferred the solitude.

It was surprising that Acnologia even knew that this had once been her late ancestor's home. Then again, he seemed to know quite a bit about her ancestry.

"Thank you," he said after several minutes in silence. "For allowing me to come and read this."

"Well, it's the least I could do," she said, sipping at her tea. "Did you want to see the pictures too?"

"Pictures?" he asked, his eyes rounding in awe as she gestured to the chest off to her left. "How would anyone have had pictures in that time? Paintings, possibly, but…"

"Well, they are paintings," Lucy laughed. She set down her teacup and opened the chest, then pulled out several pages. "She wrote that there was a man in her guild named Reedus. His magic had something to do with bringing whatever he painted to life. Literally."

Acnologia's fingers brushed over hers while he carefully took the paintings from her grasp.

"I guess he liked painting the people in the guild," she continued. "There are lots of pictures of everyone there."

"That does make sense. My understanding was that the Fairy Tail guild prided itself on  _nakama_."

"Nakama?" she asked, frowning.

"Ah, that is a word that's fallen out of use nowadays, isn't it… It means camaraderie," he amended. "They were borne from all walks of life, but they came together in that guild and became a family. Their bonds were what held them together, regardless of the trials they faced."

"And you really tried to kill them?" she whispered.

"I did," he nodded, turning to the next page. "The story I told you of Tenrou, was my own. I only pursued them later because I realized there were Dragon Slayers in that guild. That only happened after Igneel and the others appeared while Fairy Tail battled with Tartaros."

"Reedus painted you as well," she said. His eyes turned toward her, full of intrigue while she withdrew another page from the chest. "Would you like to see?"

"Yes," he replied. He didn't touch the page when she showed him, though. Acnologia simply stared at the image, his emerald gaze traveling over every bit of ink, soaking it in and memorizing it. "I've… never seen myself like this…"

"You're a beautiful dragon." She was just as surprised by her words as he was, and Lucy found her cheeks flaming. "I-I mean, well… Aside from being scary, and all that…"

Acnologia chuckled and brought his metallic hand up to rest on her wrist. That was when she noticed that it really was a prosthetic. And not one that she could imagine someone in this century creating. It reminded her of the stories Lucy Heartfilia had written about the Crash mage named Gildarts Clive, a man who had been the first to face off against Acnologia and live to tell the tale.

"I'm not really all that terrifying these days," he said. She could swear she heard just the smallest bit of sadness in his voice.

"Then what has the famous Dragon King been doing with his life?"

"Collecting my past," he said. "I never want to forget it. Or what the world was like in the time I truly belong in."

"Even though you tried to destroy it all?"

"I was young and stupid then," he said. She could see his sadness leaking from his voice and up into his eyes. "It started as revenge for what the dragons did to my home and family. I became power-hungry. It wasn't until I had been dormant for centuries and woke to find that magic was nothing more than a myth that I realized the mistake I'd made."

"You wished for a world where no one was strong enough to stop you, and you got it…"

"And it is more lonely than spending my days in a cave, plotting my revenge." She could understand that, in a sense. She'd never felt more lonely than the days where she daydreamed of living in the world her ancestor wrote about, and being the only one who truly believed in it all. Her great aunt Ethel called her a Dreamer for that very reason.

Lucy was always looked at as the girl with her head up in the clouds, instead of down on earth where it belonged. Except, no one really tried to stop her either. She'd heard her Aunt Anna saying that it was best to leave her to her dreams when she'd lost her parents in that plane crash. That was why they'd allowed her to keep Acno in the first place. The dog that had saved her life became the biggest part of her life.

But now, she had  _his_  namesake sitting in her home. A mage. A real life Dragon Slayer.

And here she was, talking about the past he'd tried to destroy and the life he'd left behind.

"Could you show me?" she asked timidly. "Your magic… Could I see it?"

He smiled at her then, and turned her right hand so the palm faced upward. He cupped his hands around it and she gasped at the foreign, tingling sensation dancing across her flesh. A soft white-blue light spilled from the space between their hands, and then he opened them to reveal a glowing, twinkling cluster of starlight.

"Wh-What is this?"

"The basis of my magic," he said. "No one ever knew what element was mine to command. I made sure they were none the wiser until the very end. Even then, I doubt anyone solved that riddle."

"Dragon Slayers have different elements," she nodded. She remembered that Natsu, the man who'd married her ancestor, was a Fire Dragon Slayer. There had also been Lightning and Iron and Wind Dragon Slayers in Fairy Tail. "What's yours?"

"That's quite the personal question." When she sputtered and tried to apologize, Acnologia couldn't help but laugh. "When I learned this magic, it was called  _Sêr_. My element is from the stars."

"You're kidding me, right?"

He shook his head, gesturing to their still joined hands. "There was a saying, long before Fairy Tail existed. The dragon who taught me this magic had said it once. I used to say it to remind myself of the reason for slaughtering all those dragons."

"What is it?"

" _Ni all sêr ddisgleirio heb dywyllwch_. The stars can't shine without darkness." She watched as his smile shifted once again to something that was tinged with regret. "I believed for so long that my actions gave me more power. And they did. I was able to become a dragon because of what I'd done. The only problem was that it robbed me of a true life."

Lucy smiled down at the little motes of light twinkling above her hand. "I wonder what she would have said, if she knew how close your magic was to her own."

"You know about her magic?"

"A little," Lucy chuckled. "I have the keys she carried around with her."

Acnologia shot forward his his seat, the magic in the air dying down in an instant as he grabbed her shoulders. "You have her gate keys?" he asked. "Truly, you have the twelve gold keys?"

"W-Well, um… Yeah," she said slowly. "And a bunch of silver keys too. They're just heirlooms now though. No one in my family has been able to use them, and…"

"And?"

She sighed and glanced off to the side, hunching her shoulders just slightly. "No one believes it's even possible. The only reason we've kept them all this time is because they were the inspiration behind her tales."

"Will you show them to me?"

She wasn't sure if this was a good idea, but the longer she looked into Acnologia's eyes, the more at ease she felt. She was positive that no one before her had had this feeling while looking at him. For so long, he'd been alone. He'd said as much himself already. But the cobwebs of a lacking existence had cleared from his mind, and he suddenly seemed much more alive than she'd seen him before.

So, she took a chance. It was one risk after another for her of late, but Acnologia just brought that out in her without her even realizing it until it was too late. She stood and grabbed his hand, then led him away from the library. They passed a maid on their way down the hall, and Lucy simply waved her away with a wide grin.

Only Acnologia was able to hear the woman muttering that it was about time the young heiress found a man, even if she did seem to be just a little forward in claiming him.

Lucy stopped outside of her bedroom and stood stone still with her hand on the doorknob. She could do this. She could show him the gate keys. He truly was Acnologia, the one who'd tried to kill her ancestor, but there was something about him that called to her. It made her want to trust him with this as well.

"Is everything alright?"

She nodded, and slowly peeked up at him. "Promise me that I can trust you with this," she whispered. "I… I've never showed them to anyone. And everyone tells me they're special…"

"Only if you will promise to keep my true identity a secret," he said with a small turn to his lips. Maybe he was just teasing her, but Lucy nodded all the same.

She turned and shook his hand, her back straightening as she said, "I promise, your secret's safe with me, Acnologia."

"Then I swear that you can trust me," he replied.

She let out a long sigh and led him into her bedroom. He waited in the middle of the room while she opened her nightstand drawer and pulled out a heavy tome. She flipped open the cover to reveal an open space inside it, holding an old leather pouch and a black cylinder with golden ends and a small star-shaped pendant attached to one end by a cord.

Lucy carried the book over to him, watching as he carefully reached inside for the pouch. "The original pouch was destroyed a long time ago," she said. "She wrote in her diary that Natsu accidentally set it on fire after they were married, and she never got around to getting a new one made with the guild's mark on it."

Slowly, he opened the flap and let the gold and silver keys fall into his outstretched hand. His fingers brushed over each one reverently, almost as though he'd been reunited with old friends.

Lucy saw one key in particular and smiled. "She went on an adventure after the war," she said while touching the golden key. "It took her a long time to find Aquarius' key again, but she managed to be reunited with the spirit."

"You sound like you've memorized her life story," he said.

Lucy looked up into his eyes, smiling all the while. "I think my favorite part of reading through everything these past few months was learning about her magic. She wrote about those spirits like they were her best friends."

"In my youth, that was the relationship that Celestial mages had with the spirits they were contracted with," he said. "I came to find out later on that she was one of only a few who held that same standard in her time."

It was so strange for her, hearing about her ancestor this way. Sometimes, she felt as though she was reliving parts of her own life while reading Lucy Heartfilia's diaries. She could hear Natsu yelling,  _"I'm all fired up!"_  in the distance. She could feel the chill from Gray's Ice Make magic, or hear the air splitting from Erza's dozens of swords. But that was silly, and Lucy knew it.

"Sometimes, I wish I had magic," she said, looking back down at the keys. "I wish I could meet them…"

"Maybe you can," he said. She jolted in surprise when he placed the keys in her hand, closing her fingers over them. Acnologia took the book from her and set it on her bed, then pulled the cylinder from inside. "I believe you should hold onto this as well."

Lucy pushed the keyring back into the pouch and attached it to her belt, then took the cylinder from him and just held it. She didn't know how to put it on, or what it really was in the first place, so holding it would have to do.

"You're not… making fun of me, are you?" she asked warily while looking down at herself. His sudden, low laughter had her head shooting up and a glare narrowing her eyes.

"No, I would not tease you over something like this," he chuckled. "I am rather excited to find out if you're able to do this. But come… It would be best if I explain to you what is required of you first."

Excitement bubbled in her chest as he took her hand in his metal one and led her back down the halls to the library. A large part of her felt that nothing would come of this, but she had hope. Maybe there was more to this meeting with Acnologia than either of them could have guessed before. She'd learned that magic and the fairy tales she'd grown up hearing were real. And maybe, just maybe, he could show her a world she'd only ever dreamt of before.

* * *

He watched Lucy where she sat cross-legged in the grass beside Lucy Heartfilia's grave, her fingers running delicately over the twenty keys her ancestor had collected in her lifetime. She'd told him that the last of the Zodiac keys had been passed to Lucy Heartifilia after Yukino Aguria died of complications during childbirth; the other Celestial mage's children hadn't possessed any magical affinity whatsoever, and her older sister refused to take the keys for herself.

"Tell me the names of the Zodiac," he said softly. "And show me which key is which." As she went about listing them off, singling out each golden key and running the pad of her thumb over it, he thought back to seven months prior when he'd first come to visit with her.

For the past seven months, they'd been working nearly every day to hone her ability to feel the strong magical lineage she'd been gifted with. He'd taken a liking to tracing genealogy in recent years, so once he'd learned who her parents were, and their parents before them, he'd taken the time to trace her own family history back to the first Lucy Heartfilia, wife of Natsu Dragneel, the brother of the great Black Wizard, Zeref Dragneel. This woman sitting before him had vast amounts of magical abilities in her family throughout the generations.

In every generation, at least one male who descended from a Dragon Slayer in the 700s married into the family.

Acnologia was left wondering if there was something about Heartfilia women that drew Dragon Slayers to them. He'd felt a pull toward Anna so many years ago, but her betrayal and his thirst for power had stopped him from every making a move in her direction.

"... And Capricorn the Goat," she finished.

"Good," he said, circling around her. "Now clear your mind and look up to the sky. The night is clear, so you can connect with the stars. Take some time to reconnect with them. Find the pull of magic in your veins that comes from your bloodline."

So long ago, he would have killed her without a care. The thought had crossed his mind only once since she'd invited him over to her home that first day. But she was a diligent student, so eager to learn from him. And Acnologia hadn't realized just how much he wished there was someone else who knew something of the world he'd come from.

Lucy was his only link to the past he'd tried to foolishly to destroy. While he might not have been a part of it the way Lucy Heartfilia had been, he was still a part of history that was forgotten. Except by her.

How odd it was to be standing here, months after happening upon her in that airport, teaching her how to use magic.

She let out a soft gasp, and his attention was drawn back to her closed eyes and soft smile. She had to have felt it, that first spark of magic that he was positive would grow with practice. Acnologia had no books on Celestial magic - they had been destroyed centuries ago while he was still in stasis - so he could only guess at what was required of her to be able to summon a spirit. If he taught her the same way he'd learned to channel his own magic, however, that could be a step in the right direction. And that was what he'd done.

Slowly, he knelt behind her and placed his hands on her shoulders. "Stand and find the key that calls to you," he said. "You know what to do."

She'd tried so many times before to summon a key, even though he'd told her that she wasn't ready yet. Only once before had anything come of it, the barest sparkle of energy on her fingertips, before she fell unconscious and toppled to the ground. They'd decided it would be best if she didn't make anymore attempts inside the library when she woke up with a bleeding forehead from the marble floor.

He helped Lucy stand, then took a step back and watched her legs fall into the stance that he vaguely remembered her ancestor using. She singled out a key and thrust it into the air in front of her, calling out an incantation they'd found in a little spiral notebook that had the shorthand details of Lucy Heartfilia's contracts with her spirits.

"I am linked to the path to the world of Celestial Spirits, now!" she called out. He could see her body working on instinct alone as she swiped the key across the space in front of her, then sliced it down through the air. "Oh spirit, answer my call and pass through the gate! Open, Gate of the Lion, Leo!"

A bright golden light filled the air in front of them, accompanied by a loud clock chiming to announce the arrival of a Celestial spirit. The light didn't dim, though, and instead grew brighter until he and Lucy were both squinting from its intensity. When they could hardly take much more, the light burst into millions of sparkling motes that twinkled down to the grass and finally disappeared.

Lucy's eyes cracked open to see if she'd actually succeeded, and Acnologia watched her instead of the spirit in front of them. Her eyes went wide while looking at the man from head to toe. His wild ginger mane of hair, his sunglasses and debonaire smile, and all along the finely tailored suit he wore.

"Y-You… You're just like she described," she whispered. Acnologia could smell her tears, and while he would have done nothing to ease her when they'd first started working together, he'd grown in the last seven months. He'd begun to care for her in ways he didn't want to put into words. So he simply set a hand on her shoulder to comfort her, and her own instantly covered it.

"Hello again, Princess," Leo said, bowing low at the waist. "I've missed you."

Her grip on Acnologia's hand tightened when he tried to pull away from her. He knew this was supposed to be a sacred, personal moment between the summoner and the spirit. This was when she should be making a contract with Leo the Lion. No one else should be present for it, but he could feel her shaking, trembling where she stood in front of him.

If he hadn't come to know her so well, Acnologia probably would have brushed it off. But he did know Lucy, and he knew that she was starting to feel overwhelmed.

She'd confided in him two weeks earlier that she was scared of doing this. It was her dream to be able to summon a spirit, to actually have magic like the first Lucy Heartfilia. But even though she'd dreamt of this day coming, and even though she'd seen bits of Acnologia's own magic from time to time, this was the moment where it all finally happened. This was when it became irrevocably real for her.

"Breathe, Lucy," he whispered into her hair. "It's alright."

"It's really him," she whimpered. He knew before it happened that her legs would give out, based only on how they shook while holding her weight. Acnologia easily caught her and gently lowered her to the ground, kneeling behind the suddenly sobbing blonde.

"Princess?" Leo's brows furrowed as he rushed forward. "What happened? What's the matter?"

"L-Leo," she sobbed. "I'm n-not…"

He paused just before reaching out for her, and Acnologia saw the moment he realized just who this was. It wasn't the Celestial mage he remembered, the one he'd sworn his entire existence to protect. They'd learned from her diaries that she only ever called him Loke, because she'd met him during his exile while he pretended to be a human mage in Fairy Tail. Leo must have realized that this wasn't the woman he knew, based on what she'd called him.

"What's your name?" Leo asked softly.

She couldn't speak properly though. She was too caught up in her own emotions. Acnologia didn't know much about the sort of woman the first Lucy was, so he didn't know if she cried this much. But his Lucy did. She cried when she was happy, and especially when she was sad. When she was frustrated and when her anxiety got the best of her. The only time she didn't cry was when she was angry; those times, she screeched at decibels no human should be able to reach.

"Her name is Lucy Heartfilia," he said for her, finally drawing the spirit's attention to him. "The second."

"Acnologia," Leo growled. His muscles tensed, ready to protect his new master from the evil mage he remembered, but Acnologia simply shook his head. "Get away from her."

"I'm not the same man you remember, Leo. It's been several centuries, you know."

"How are you even still alive?"

That was something he refused to divulge. There was no way he would tell anyone, save the woman in his arms, that along with gaining the body of a dragon from the overuse of his magic, he'd also gained their lifespan. He trusted Lucy, to a point, but that didn't extend to her spirits. Not until they'd proven themselves to be trustworthy in his eyes. Instead Acnologia pressed his lips to Lucy's ear and whispered, "You may not have much time with him for your first summon, Lucy. If you want to make a contract, you should do it now."

She nodded and tried her level best to compose herself, and just when he would have let her go so she could have some time with Leo, she held fast. "Don't leave me."

"Never," he said, getting into a slightly more comfortable position behind her.

"There's no need to make a contract with me," Leo said, smiling gently at her. He finally reached out to grasp her hands, and his smile only grew when he saw the red birthmark on her right hand. "I swore to only serve my princess, and by extension, her family. I'm already bound to you, Lucy. You can call on me at any time."

"I-I can?"

"Of course," he laughed. "It won't take too much of your magic to summon me, either. I can feel her magic in you, and the bond I shared with her is… it's almost like she's right here with us right now." He gently squeezed her hands when she shrunk in on herself just slightly. "Besides, I'm the leader of the Zodiac. Now that you've summoned me, I can open my gate on my own again."

"I would suggest being careful of when you do that," Acnologia said. "This time has no magic, save mine and now hers."

"Really?"

"Truly," Acnologia nodded.

"I might have to open my gate again later on to find out what I've missed," Leo muttered. He turned his attention to Lucy and gently cupped her cheeks, then leaned forward and pressed his lips for her forehead. "Thank you for summoning me, Lucy. I hope we can be great friends, just like I was with my princess."

"M-Me too," she whimpered.

"Don't cry," he chuckled. "You Heartfilia women always break my heart when you cry."

Of course, that only made her cry harder. Acnologia knew there was no stopping it though. She needed to just cry it out on her own time. His grip on her loosened when she lunged forward to hug Leo, and his gaze met with the spirit's over her head. "She's the only one who's believed in the first Lucy's stories," he said softly. "Your appearance has just made her dream come true, Leo."

He could swear the spirit who was ages older than even himself teared up at hearing those words, but Acnologia simply ignored it. Instead, he focused on the silver dog plodding across the grass to come and sit beside them. Acno nudged his nose beneath Acnologia's hand, and he sighed heavily while giving in and petting the ridiculous beast.

* * *

Acnologia set down the book he'd been reading, Lucy Heartfilia's final work that had been published when she was nearly ninety years old. He looked over to where Lucy was lying beside him in her bed, reading what he was sure was a trashy romance novel that her ancestor's friend Erza had loved (she'd recently found them in a crate on the other side of the mansion, and hadn't been able to put them down).

She'd grown so much in the use of her magic in the last five months, almost as though it had been lying dormant inside of her, just waiting to be unleashed. She still had a long way to go to be able to live up to her ancestor's level of power, but he knew that wasn't something she wanted.

There was no need for it in this modern age. She had no battles to fight, and no missions to take that would endanger her life. She was learning this simply as a way to connect with her own lineage, and to fulfill some deep-seated need within her soul that called for a bond with the Celestial spirits. He knew it was more than a hobby for her, but he was also more than pleased that she didn't have to face the horrors that the first Lucy had.

His Lucy was too gentle for those sorts of things. Oddly enough, it was the first thing about her that he'd fallen for.

"You're staring at me again," she giggled, looking up from her book. "Please don't tell me you're thinking that my shoulders look edible."

His lips twitched in a barely there smirk. She definitely wasn't wrong. The small slip of skin showing above the blanket did look rather delectable, but he'd already made sure they were both sated for the night. If he even considered trying to goad her into another round beneath the sheets, she wouldn't be able to move the next day.

"You may be onto something," he chuckled. "But I was thinking about something else."

"And what might that be, oh great Dragon King?" She laughed when he pounced on her, pushing the book to the floor while rolling her onto her back. Teasing or not, there was a primal part of him that positively purred when she called him that. The little minx knew it, too. Even while not wearing his prosthetic arm, he could still easily overpower her. Acnologia loved that she got a thrill from things like this.

His lips were far more tender than they might have been otherwise while pressing against hers in a gentle kiss. Her fingers danced along the blue markings covering his chest, down to his hips.

"I was thinking about something I read," he whispered.

"What's that?" she asked, smiling up at him. Stars, how he loved to see her smile just for him.

"'Do fairies have tails?'" he said, quoting the end of Lucy's final book. "'More than that, do fairies even exist? Nobody knows for sure, so this guild is like them. An eternal mystery. An eternal adventure.'"

"That's one of my favorite lines," she said. "She wrote that Makarov said it to every new member that joined."

"I think I might finally understand it," he whispered, and a rare smile graced his lips as well. "I think they really do exist."

"Do you now?" she giggled.

"And we should try to find them." She saw the suddenly excited gleam in his eyes, and he watched as it slowly appeared in her own. And then her smile became impossibly wide, and she nodded just once. They'd never done this before, but she knew just what he was suggesting. She knew that it meant he trusted her, and for her to accept would mean she trusted him as well.

"Take me on an adventure," she said, her voice soft and breathless.

Acnologia hopped off the bed and grabbed the clothes that had been tossed haphazardly to the floor hours earlier. He wasn't too concerned with his own, but he still bundled them up and shoved them into one of her large purses that she kept in the closet while Lucy got herself dressed. Once she was ready, he grabbed her hand and led her to the balcony door, uncaring of his nudity even as he opened it and several flurries drifted inside. "Grab another coat, Lucy. And gloves. And a scarf. Then meet me on the balcony."

"Should I leave a note?"

He grinned at her over his shoulder, and reveled in the way her heart rate skyrocketed. "We might be back by morning. Maybe."

She nodded and rushed off to add more layers to her clothing, and when she returned to the balcony, he was gone. There was a sudden rush of magical energy in the air that pressed down on her, a flash of light, and then a monstrous dragon stood before her on the lawn with its head easily towering over her. He was taller than she'd ever imagined he would be. The gleam on his scales might have seemed deadly to his enemies years ago, but to her they were beautiful. Breathtaking.

The first Lucy did have one thing right though, the scales that were black seemed as though they would swallow the stars themselves. But it was the mesmerizing swirls of bright blue that gave her the ability to draw in her next breath, even as he leaned down and pressed his snout against her body.

Acno plodded across the carpet and nudged the back of Lucy's legs while she gaped up at Acnologia's dragon form. She smiled down at the dog and patted his head. "Don't wait up for me, Acnologia," she whispered. "He'll take care of me."

The dog didn't whine, but simply licked her gloved hand and sat on the balcony, watching as she took slow steps toward the railing. She climbed onto the railing and a shrill, giggling squeal left her lips when Acnologia's deadly claws wrapped around her body. Acno watched as the pair flew off into the night sky, and didn't move when a soft golden light flashed behind him.

Leo stepped forward and removed his glasses, then cleaned them with a handkerchief while watching Acnologia disappear into the night sky. "The adventure of Fairy Tail lives on, huh?" he sighed.

Acno huffed out a half-bark and Leo chuckled.

"I never expected Acnologia to be the one to hold it all together. To think, he collected everything from the guild and held onto it all these years. And he even taught Lucy how to summon her spirits."

"Puu-pun," Acno muttered, looking up at Leo who grinned down at him and placed a gentle hand on his oversized head.

"I think you're right, Plue," he said, gazing back up to the stars. "Our princess is still with us, isn't she?"

_**.The End.** _

**Author's Note:**

> I'd like to ask that you excuse any mistranslations in the foreign language bits that show up here and there. Google Translate isn't always accurate, but it's the best I've got. In case you're curious, I decided to use some Welsh... from Google. I apologize to any who speak Welsh, if this is incorrect (feel free to correct it in a PM, if you'd like. I'm more than happy to make it more accurate).


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